Unsafe-portables Era Ending At 34 Schools

Plans Call For Classrooms That Are Sturdier, Moisture-resistant And Built On Concrete Slabs.

October 11, 1998|By Mike Berry of The Sentinel Staff

They litter schoolyards throughout Orange County, some of them ugly and moldy, all of them vulnerable to severe storms.

Most were meant to be temporary, but, like visiting relatives who refuse to leave, they have outlasted their welcome.

They are portable classrooms, and the school district plans to replace hundreds of them with permanent buildings at 34 schools over the next three years. Work may begin as early as next month on the $34 million project.

The new classrooms would go up in quick, assembly-line fashion, with construction methods that have been used extensively in homes and offices but not much in schools.

School administrators say the permanent buildings would be safer, more durable and more resistant to moisture than portables perched on concrete piers. What's more, students won't have to flee them when bad weather threatens or worry about rusty tie-down straps breaking.

A recent Orlando Sentinel investigation revealed that hundreds of portable classrooms across Central Florida were not properly anchored and that some schools didn't even have a plan to evacuate children out of portables when tornadoes threaten.

Of the 348 portables to be replaced, 116 are a type called modular classrooms. Modular classrooms, built to look more permanent, were a disaster for the school district because of rotting wood, leaking walls and air-quality problems. Former Superintendent Donald Shaw resigned several weeks after the Sentinel reported widespread problems with modular classrooms.

Will new classrooms live up to expectations? School officials say so. Some teachers and parents are optimistic but cautious.

Three companies have been chosen to begin replacing the portables. The School Board will be asked Tuesday to approve contracts with them.

Though each company would use a different construction method, each would build identically designed sets of four classrooms - called ``quads,'' which are divided by a central hallway with bathrooms and storage space.

That repetitive design, along with the construction methods to be used, would allow the district to put up classrooms faster and more cheaply than if it were building conventional schools.

Construction would begin next month at the earliest. The first quads may take up to three months to complete, but subsequent buildings should take no longer than two months, school district officials said. By contrast, a traditional elementary school with 40 to 50 classrooms takes a year to build.

``We're going to be moving pretty fast. We're building the equivalent of two elementary schools every 45 days,'' said Steve Arcidiacono, director of special services with the school district.

Generally, the schools with the oldest and shoddiest portables would get replacements first. In some cases, however, the work would be timed to coincide with other repairs at a school, spokesman Joe Mittiga said.

Superintendent Dennis Smith has said he wants to replace all but a few of the district's 3,200 portables, but the district only has money now to replace 348.

The new building program comes more than a decade after Orange County school officials promised that another type of modular classroom would help in the fight against crowding.

It sounded great. Movable classrooms that would look better than the typical portable classrooms and were cheaper and faster to build than traditional classrooms. But design flaws led to leaks, rotting floors and poor indoor air quality that made students and teachers sick.

School district officials insist they've learned their lesson. They say steps would be taken to assure any problems would be caught early. That includes checking regularly for moisture.

The quads must meet new state humidity-control standards that do not apply to portables, said Chris Hassall, a school district construction consultant.

One company uses concrete panels with far fewer seams than are found in a standard block or wood-frame home, reducing the number of places where moisture can creep in. Another company uses lightweight steel framing that won't rot or warp.

But most important, the classrooms would be permanent buildings, built on concrete foundations and designed to last 40 or 50 years. Interior hallways would give students and teachers a place to ride out a severe storm. In portables, everyone must take refuge in a larger, permanent building.

The quads must be built to withstands winds of at least 121 miles per hour.

Arcidiacono concedes some school district employees may be nervous about the project, given the history with modulars.

``Modulars were touted as the greatest thing since sliced bread,'' he said. But after they were built, it took much too long to notice moisture problems, he said.

``All I can say is we're trying to take every precaution to make sure that doesn't happen.''

Perhaps it is evidence of school officials' caution that they are hedging their bets with three types of construction.